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Cynthia Poten creates sumptuous poemscapes which deserve a second reading, and often a third. These Whitman-like verses of modest length shapeshift each time we return to them, with simple images and characters that rise out of the misty surface of words and then become much more. Like a wall of hieroglyphs in a remote rainforest temple, these elusive poems increase in scope and power as we continue to contemplate their significance. Holographic dreamscapes, childhood flashbacks, and kaleidoscopic travel logs sing together in their own consistent harmony. Each poem tells a story, often about the slow, silent erosion of the shamanic way of life, and of the sacredness of place. These vignettes capture the subtle clashes between a natural world of divinely inspired perfection and a human world out of balance, brought to a climax by disturbing juxtapositions of purity and destruction. Poten offers us a shadowbox of images that slowly reveal the sad future of a pirated planet, and of a despoiling of paradise that will take seven generations to heal at best. Thoughtful readers who make the journey through the layers of her personal history, a microcosm of the world at large, will find heartfelt rewards, even as they are reminded of their own tender sorrows. Praying in Indian Country speaks for our time and our world.
Evan T. Pritchard, a descendant of the Mi'kmaq people of Maine and Canada’s Maritime provinces, is the author of several books, including Bird Medicine, Native New Yorkers and No Word for Time, and a regular on radio shows such as NPR’s Fresh Air and on the History Channel. His most recent book of poetry, Greetings from Mawenawasic, will be published by Foothills Press in June of 2014.
